Peking Pays Last Respects to Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih

Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih, Member of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Member of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee, Member of the Military Commission of the C.P.C. Central Committee. Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and concurrently Minister of Public Security, Member of the National Defence Council, First Political Commissar of the Peking Units of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, First Secretary of the C.P.C. Peking Municipal Committee, Chairman of the Peking Municipal Revolutionary Committee and First Political Commissar of the Peking Garrison, died of cancer of the stomach on March 26, 1972 in Peking at the age of 63 despite long medical treatment. A solemn ceremony to pay a last tribute to the late Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih was held in Peking on the afternoon of March 29. Flags flew at half-mast in mourning in Tien An Men Square, Hsinhuamen and other places. The ceremony took place in the Great Hall of the People where a portrait of the deceased hung in the middle and an urn containing his ashes was covered with the flag of the Chinese Communist Party. A wreath from our great leader Chairman Mao and a wreath from the C.P.C. Central Committee were placed in the hall. Other wreaths were presented by Tung Pi-wu, Acting Chairman of the People's Republic of China; Soong Ching Ling, Vice-Chairman of the People's Republic of China; Chu Teh, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Chou En-lai, Premier of the State Council; Kang Sheng. Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee; Ho Ksiang-ning, Vice-Chairman of the N.P.C. Standing Committee; Liu Pocheng, Hsu Shih-yu and Chen Hsi-lien, Members of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee, and other Party and state leaders. There were also wreaths presented by various Party, government and P.L.A. leading organs. Attending the ceremony were: Chou En-lai, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee; Members of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee Chu Teh, Chiang Ching, Yeh Chien-ying. Chang Chun-chiao, Yao Wen-yuan and Li Hsien-nien; and Alternate Members of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee Chi Tong-kuei, Li Teh-shcng and Wang Tung-hsing; Soong Ching Ling, Vice-Chairman of the Poo-pie's Republic of China: Hsu Hsiang-chien and Nieh Jung-chen, Vice-Chair-men of the Military Commission of the C.P.C. Central Committee; Kuo Mo-jo and Ngapo Ngawang-Jigme, Vice-Chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Hsu Teh-heng and Pebala Gelieh-Namje, Vice-Chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; and Fu Tso-yi, Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Council. Comrade Li Hsien-nien presided over the ceremony. Comrade Chou En-lai made a memorial speech. (Full text see p.4.) Leading members of the Party and state at the ceremony expressed their deep sympathy to Comrade Liu Hsiang-ping, widow of the late Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih, and to their children. Also present were: Members and Alternate Members of the C.P.C. Central Committee now in Peking; Members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; leading members of various deportments under the C.P.C Central Committee and government departments; leading members of various general departments, services and arms of the P.L.A., the P.LA. Science and Technology Commission for National Defence, military academies, the P.L.A. Peking Units and the Peking Garrison; Members of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Members of the National Defence Council; leading members of the C.P.C. Peking Municipal Committee and the Peking Municipal Revolutionary Committee; representatives of the Peking masses as well as medical workers, totalling more than 3.M0. After Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih's death, leading comrades of the Party Central Committee Chou En-lai, Chu The, Liu Po-cheng, Chiang Ching, Yen Chicn-ying, Chang Chun-chlao, Yao Wen-yuan, Li Hsien-nien, Chi Teng-kuei, Li Teh-sheng and Wang Tung-hsing and leading comrades at the Party, government and army organs as well as representatives of the masses paid the last homage to the remains of the deceased.

Comrade Chou En-lai's Memorial Speech

Filled with grief, we pay last respects to Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih, an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China and a staunch fighter of the Chinese people.

Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih was Member of the Ninth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Member of the Political Bureau of the C.P.C. Central Committee, a member of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, Vice-Premier of the State Council or the People's Republic of China and concurrently Minister of Public Security, a member of I he National Defence Council. First Political Commissar of the Peking Units of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, First Secretary of the C.P.C. Peking Municipal Committee, Chairman of the Peking Municipal Revolutionary Committee and First Political Commissar of the Peking Garrison Peking Pays Last Respects to Comrade Fu-chih suffered from cancer of the stomach two years ago. After a surgical operation, doctors and nurses did their best to give him medical treatment and care and members of his family worked in active co-operation. Comrade Fu-chih himself, in particular, put up a persistent and tenacious struggle against the disease. Yet the long medical treatment was to no avail in the end because of en extensive metastasis of the cancer. His heart stopped beating at 13:37 hours on March 28. 1972, at the age of 63.

Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih came from a poor peasant family. He was a carpenter in his teens. He had been in the revolutionary ranks ever since his youth. He joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1929. He was admitted into the Communist Party of China in 1931. During the Red Army period, he served as a fighter, squad leader, platoon commander, deputy company commander, company political instructor, head of regimental, divisional and corps political departments and worked on a county committee and a provincial committee of the Chinese Communist Party. During the period of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was political commissar of a regiment, a brigade, a military sub-area and a column of the Eighth Route Army and acting commander of a military area and concurrently secretary of a regional committee of the Chinese Communist Party. During the War of Liberation, he served as political commissar and commander of a column of the Second Field Army and political commissar of an army. After liberation he became Secretary of the Eastern Szechuan Area Party Committee, First Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, and Commander and concurrently Political Commissar of the Eastern Szechuan and Yunnan Military Area and the Kunming Units of the P.L.A., and Commander and concurrently Political Commissar of the Public Security Forces of the PLA.

Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih’s life was one devoted to the revolution. In the course of the protracted revolutionary wars and in the course of socialist revolution and construction, especially during the great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih, loyal to the Party and the people, fought unremittingly in implementing and defending Chairman MAO'S prole¬tarian revolutionary line. Under the leadership of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao, he, over the decades, fought heroically, worked selflessly, remained modest and prudent, gave play to the style of plain living and hard struggle; he was open and above-board and served the people diligently and conscien¬tiously. He devoted his whole life and energy to the liberation of the Chinese, people and the cause of communism.

The death of Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih is a great loss to our Party and our army. The people throughout the country feet deeply grieved. As we express our condolences on Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih’s death, we must learn from him his revolutionary spirit and fine qualities of the proletariat, transform our grief into strength and, under the leadership of the Party Cen¬tral Committee headed by the great leader Chairman Mao and under the guidance of Chairman Mao's pro¬letarian revolutionary line, unite to win still greater victories!Comrade Hsieh Fu-chih, may you rest in peace!